Book of Luke (Book 2) (6 page)

Then again, they
did
invent this
thing called a
pen name
…

My book’s about a girl who couldn’t get
much, until she met this amazingly hot, smart, sweet guy who sweeps
her off her feet, always knows what to say, and
never
wanders.

Yeah,
that
should sound
familiar.

And—because it’s fitting—I should title it
My Best Friend’s Brother.

I have not yet decided whether this guy’s
dad looks like a male model, or if he’s a womanizer—I’m not sure I
want to ruin the book. I mean, don’t guys end up like their fathers
someday, anyway?

What a plot twist!

I bit my nail and stared at the clock.

Another sixty minutes of class; of smelling
Luke’s cologne besides me. Another three days until our plane
leaves, carrying us to five days of freedom. Another two sleepless
nights alone, missing
him
.

Another episode of
now
-who’s-calling-Adonia’s-boyfriend that I’ve got to worry
about.

Seriously, he’s
constantly
checking
his phone!

“Adonia, care to share your thoughts?”
Tweezer called, pulling me back to reality.

“I hate man whores!” I blurted in a sudden
panic.

The class exploded in laughter.

My blood turned cold. My face grew hot as I
turned my head and looked at Luke. So cool and so hot all at once;
his hair slick, his mouth seductive, his eyes twinkling, his mind
wondering,

What the hell is
wrong
with this
girl?

He looked amused, with that crooked grin and
those brilliant eyes and that awesome chest—

“Adonia!” Tweezer snapped his fingers at me.
“Can you drool over Luke later? Right now I would like your
thoughts.”

I turned to Tweezer, breathless. My ears
began to buzz. “My thoughts on what?”

Tweezer crossed his arms. “William
Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet…
?”

“Oh,” I blurted, “I think Leo DiCaprio is
way
hotter!”

Tweezer frowned. “Hotter? Than
whom
?”

“The Romeo in this book,” I said, holding up
the cover. “This guy is gross!
I
wouldn’t die for him!”

I bit my tongue so I can stop before
Tweezer’s stares get any weirder. People couldn’t stop
laughing.

“Like, oh my God I
totally
agree!”
Jenna exclaimed, chatting to her slutty new redheaded, green-eyed
friend, Karma. “Leo DiCaprio is like, almost as hot as Adonia’s
boyfriend!”

Tweezer sighed and pointed to Jake, who had
his hand up in the back.

“Juliet’s got a nice rack, though,” Jake
announced, pointing to her boobs on the cover. All the guys closed
their books and started evaluating.

After a brief glance at the cover himself,
Tweezer’s head fell into his hands. “How about we just… move on?”
He went and wrote a writing prompt on the board.

I looked around awkwardly. Then I looked at
Luke. He blew me a kiss and winked. After a moment he sat up in his
seat, wrapped an arm around me and whispered,

“You’re perfect.”

~ ~ ~

I didn’t expect to see Gino by my locker after
class. He wore cool, baggy blue jeans, a navy tee shirt and his
black leather jacket. I tried not to check him out. Not only
because he was my best friend’s—boyfriend?—but because I’m taken,
and my boyfriend was watching.

Luke stopped in his tracks about ten feet
away, clearly not wanting to confront him. He actually looked like
he wanted to beat his ass.

I looked at Luke reassuringly before leaving
his side. I stopped short of Gino and looked up at him. “Hey,” I
said softly. “What’s going on?”

Like I didn’t know.

“If I ask you something,” he said in a low,
sexy voice, “will you give me an honest answer?” He looked at Luke
warily.

“That depends on the question,” I wanted to
say.

My breath caught in my throat. “What kind of
question?” I didn’t want to say
yes
, because I didn’t want
to
completely
lie to him.

He’s way too cute.

He leaned on the locker and our eyes locked.
Seriously, just
seeing
that look in his eyes made me want to
break down and spill. “Did she cheat on me?”

“What?!” I shrieked.

“Did she cheat on me? Tell me the
truth.”

“Why in the world would she cheat on
you?”

“The last time I slept with her was just
before Thanksgiving. She just found out she’s pregnant in
mid-February? That’s like, three months. It takes three weeks to
skip a menstrual cycle, right? Something ain’t right.”

“She didn’t sleep with you since
November?!
”

He looked around, as a few people were
staring. “We don’t get much privacy.” He glanced at Luke. “That’s
why I dumped her. Not ‘cause I’m an irresponsible prick, but ‘cause
I’m ninety-nine percent sure she’s cheatin’ on me.” He knitted his
eyebrows. “So?”

“Gino,” I breathed,
so
tempted to
just tell him. I bit my tongue for a moment, choosing my words
carefully, because my heart was racing. “Lilly loves you. I can
assure you with
no
uncertainty
that she did
not
cheat on you.”

He looked down. “The delay, what’s up with
that? I mean, how could she be pregnant for months and not
know?”

“I’m sure there’s an explanation,” I
uttered.

And that explanation is that she’s
lying.

“Trust me,” I continued. “She would
never
cheat on you. She’s devastated.”

He nodded. “I just need to go to college,
you know? And I can’t afford to raise a kid, let alone one that’s
not mine.”

I gripped his arm. “Seriously! Don’t even
worry
about it!” That’s the closest I could get to the
truth, without telling the truth.

“I love her a lot, you know? I hate lookin’
like an asshole.” He looked about thoughtfully. “I’m a good guy,
I’d like to think.”

“You’re an
awesome
guy,” I said
faintly. “She’s lucky to have you.”

He bit his lip. “I guess I’ll tell my ma
tonight.”

My. Heart.
Stopped.

Gino waved at Luke. “Can I talk to you?”

Luke strolled over, his shoulders out, kind
of aggressive. He planted a kiss on my head. “I’ll see you later,
Beautiful.”

Then they walked away.

~ ~ ~

I felt physically ill when I didn’t see Lilly at
lunch. “Oh my God,” I said in shock. “Where is she!”

“I haven’t seen her,” Anna said. “What’s
wrong?”

I sat quickly and leaned toward her. “He’s
telling his mom tonight. She didn’t even sleep with him since
November, he broke up with her because he thought she was
cheating.”

“What?”

“I know,” I said. “We need to find her.
Like,
now
.”

Anna put her hands out. “Find her
where
? She sticks out like a sore thumb around here!” She
was clearly freaking out. And I was right behind her.

I pulled her out of her chair. “Let’s go,
we’ve gotta try.”

After a few steps, she darted back to her
tray. She grabbed her burger, a handful of fries, and held a
Snicker’s bar between her teeth.

How does she stay so thin?

We checked the nurse’s, the main office, the
guidance office—everywhere—and she was nowhere to be seen. So we
sat in a staircase to hide from the hall monitor, watching people
walk to and from their lockers in the yellow hall. We figured she’d
show up eventually, so it’d be a good idea to lay low nearby.

Anna pulled out her microbiology book and
another Snicker’s bar. “What?” she asked when I looked at her
weird.

“Doesn’t your head hurt? You’re
always
studying.”

She shrugged. “I’ve been reading since I was
three, everything I can get my hands on. My head hurts when I’m
not
studying.”

I looked back in the hall for Lilly again.
But instead of Lilly, I saw Luke.

And Gino.

To my relief, they seemed to be getting
along. I was glad Lilly hadn’t wrecked their friendship with her
not-so-little white lie.

It’s quite interesting watching guys when
they don’t know you’re watching them. You know,
stalking
?
You get to see them boast about stuff—you can tell by how they
talk, inflate their chests and carry themselves—and you get to see
their heads turn as a hot girl walks by. And you think,

Those dogs!

Oh, wait, that was Lilly. Never mind.

“Is that a braided bun?” Anna squinted to
see. “How the heck long did
that
take?”

“I almost didn’t recognize her,” I breathed,
getting to my feet.

Lilly slapped Luke over the head and Luke
laughed. He grabbed her, threw her over his shoulder and marched
her to her locker, with her pounding on him the entire time. Gino
followed close behind. When Luke put her down, Gino grabbed her and
pulled her into his chest.

I know she was trying her best to look
pissed, but she was loving the attention. Seeing her wrapped in
Gino’s arms again made me feel accomplished, warm and fuzzy all
over.

“I guess that settles that,” Anna said,
gnawing on her pencil eraser.

“Yeah,” I said cheerfully.

~ ~ ~

My phone vibrated at 6:30. I pushed my laptop aside
and looked at my brother. “I need privacy.”

“Why? Is that your
boyfriend
?”
Sullivan teased, tucking his brown hair behind his ears.

I smiled smugly. “At least he’s
real
.”

“Trust me, Megan’s real!” he briefed, all
defensive.

I swept my hand at him a few times. He
grabbed his Nintendo DS and walked out of my room.

“Hi, Lilly!”

“Hi,” she said, before screaming something
at someone in the background. When she was back she said,

“Listen, I wanted to let you know I’m
grounded for
life
, and that you can’t come over to play
anymore.”

I shifted on my bed. “Grounded for
what?”

“For getting pregnant.”

“But you’re not…”

“Well, Lukasz told our mom, and she thinks I
am. Burke is not happy, something about having had aspirations for
me.”

“Wait, Luke can have sex but you can’t?” I
asked, confused.

“Yes, because Lukasz can’t get pregnant, and
my mom wouldn’t shed a tear if he married
you
.”

I rolled my eyes. “So Luke didn’t tell you
what happened on our lunch date with your dad…?”

“My dad told me. But didn’t you accidentally
order fried maggots or something?”

Facepalm. “But I saw you make up with Gino,”
I said, desperate to change the subject. “Why are you still
pregnant? You told him you’re not, right?”

“No,” she mumbled. “I was afraid he’d dump
me again.”

“Well what are you going to do?” I demanded.
Then I remembered—“And what’s this I heard about you not sleeping
with him since
November
?”

“Yeah, well, I’m not one for backseats, and
our parents are always home.” She popped a bubble into the
phone.

“And you
still
told him you’re
pregnant? That puts you at like four months. He said he’s going to
tell his mom!”

She heaved a sigh. “This is all my brother’s
fault.”

“Luke and I are leaving for the Alps in two
days, can you hang out?”

“Hello! I’m
grounded.
”

“Your mom won’t make an exception?”

“
For five days?
You’re not going to
the moon, you’re coming right back!”

I groaned. “Well, tell your mom you’re not
pregnant.”

“No, I have to go along with it until
I
can tell Gino. If I tell her, my brother will tell
him
and I’m not ready. I’m too scared.” She sucked her
teeth. “Why couldn’t you stop me when I told you what I was going
to do? This
sucks
.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to offend you by
saying your idea is stupid.”

“You know I would’ve gotten over it.” Brief
silence. “Well, my mom wants me off the phone. I’m an
adult
,
can’t you tell?”

I chuckled. “Maybe if you call Gino, you can
tell him before he tells his mom. I’d hate for him to get in
trouble with his parents.”

Another pause. “Maybe,” she said doubtfully.
“I’ll talk to you later.”

Wednesday was spent getting caught up on
homework, packing, and stressing about Thursday. Most of Thursday
was spent counting seconds until Thursday night.

Every. Last. One.

The time had come. I wore a tight red
spaghetti strap shirt, blue flare jeans, and high heel boots

My parents drove me to the airport an hour
early. The plane was departing at nine o’ clock, and I was
ecstatic—I was about to get a five-day taste of the rest of my
life!

The terminal was nearly deserted. Outside
the large airport windows, the sun was setting behind Denali,
illuminating it with shades of pink, yellow, purple, and blue.

My father looked ill, and it was
ridiculous.

“Dad,” I uttered as he gripped his stomach
and fell onto a bench. “It’s just five days. I’ll be fine.”

“I might just miss you,” Sullivan said. He
was dressed neatly, in a clean white shirt, blue jeans, and no coat
because it was twenty above out and he thinks he’s cool.

I pulled him in for a hug. “I’ll miss you
too!”

Mom smiled at the sight. Then she looked
beyond me at Luke and his parents and waved. “Hi, Luke! Burke,
Gwen!”

With one look at Luke, Dad gripped his
stomach and moaned.

“
Daaaad.”
I shot him a look.

He raised his hand at me. “Don’t worry, I’m
okay.”

I rolled my eyes.

They walked toward us; Luke carrying his
luggage and Burke dragging his.

Our moms hugged, and Mrs. Jacobson ruffled
my brother’s hair. “You’re growing into a very handsome young man!”
she said cheerfully.